Torn: A Twilight Princess Story
by Ruce
Summary: A trio of teenagers from Ordon find themselves thrown into the midst of the twilight invasion, and the unexpected absence of a hero chosen by the gods leaves them at Zant's mercy. They soon begin to question their origins and their purpose in Hyrule...
1. A Rude Awakening

In a typical Ordon Village morning scene, you'd see the adults wandering around town, casually chatting to each other and going about their daily business. Not too much of a close-knit village, but close enough to maintain a friendly atmosphere. You see the little children running around, as excited as can be, carefree and having the time of their lives simply chasing each other around the rustic houses. Of course, adults and children aren't the only two age groups here – there's a particular one missing. The one that would lie between adults and children – the village teenagers.

"For God's sake, how much longer are they going to be?" Tom mumbled to himself, slumped outside Laura's doorway feeling sorry for himself. Being an early riser amongst his sleep-worshipping friends was tough, and it was sure showing it today. He'd had breakfast, gone for a run and even tended to the goats at the farm, despite having a day off. And he was still sat on his lonesome, waiting for his friends to awaken.

"That's it, I'm coming in. I don't care if you're awake or not!" he eventually called out, grabbing onto Laura's door and yanking it open with much force. To his surprise, he found Laura stood right in front of him, a blanket wrapped tightly around her and draping on the floor behind. She glared at him with half-open eyes, the rest of her face barely visible due to her hair.

"If you ever shout that loud again you'll live to regret it," she groaned, turning around and slowly shuffling into the kitchen. He stormed in after her, leaving the door wide open and planning to take the blanket off her, but he stopped, feeling like he was missing something.

"Oh, hold on. Where's Callum?" he said, turning 180 degrees and running straight back out of the door, to find his other sleeping comrade. Upon arriving at his house, the curtains hadn't even been opened yet. He grumbled to himself – it must be at least noon by now. The door was locked, so he had to make his way into the house through the unusually large cat flap at the back. None of the lights were on, and evidently, nothing had been touched since the night before. He was aware that his parents were out on a brief visit to Eldin Province, but this was borderline ridiculous. He swiftly ran down the stairs to drag Callum out of his bed, only to find that door locked as well. This was unusual – Callum never locks his bedroom door. It was then that he heard a voice from behind the door.

"Tom, is that you? I heard you coming down the stairs. Could you go into the bathroom and get the key for this door, please? You'll have to slip it under the door, it only works from the inside," Callum casually requested. Tom came to the conclusion that he probably needs some new friends, before obediently fetching the key and slipping it under the door. Callum emerged from the room, his hair resembling a large mop, but his eyes wide open.

"Hey, thanks for that. I've been up for about half an hour, actually, but I dropped the key after locking the door and accidently kicked it underneath when I tried to pick it up. Is Laura awake yet?" he asked, running across to the bathroom to sort his hair out.

"Just barely," Tom replied, his voice sounding quite exasperated. Callum ran past him and up the stairs, apparently in such a rush to get some food that he tripped on the top step and almost flew into the kitchen. By the time Tom had made it up the stairs, Callum had already grabbed a couple biscuits and was waiting outside the door.

By the time the two arrived back at Laura's house, she had got as far as putting on some day clothes, but not to their surprise, she hadn't eaten anything nor gotten rid of the blanket yet.

"Are you going to eat something or just starve yourself as usual?" Tom asked, tapping his foot impatiently.

"For the last time, I feel full. I don't want anything. If you want to force feed me, you can, but don't expect a happy ending," she bluntly replied. Laura's words always had a chilling effect on Tom, so he knew not to argue any further.

At that moment, Tom's dad suddenly burst through the door, out of breath and looking like he'd ran all the way from Castle Town. Tom stared wide-eyed at him, with a what-the-hell-do-you-think-you're-doing look.

"Morning, Mr. Baptie," Callum greeted him. Laura was trying to stifle her laugh, having always been amused by Tom's family surname, but managed a 'hello'.

"Dad. You said you were going to work," said Tom, glaring at his father.

"I thought so too, but you've just got to hear this, the three of you! I had this crazy dream last night, it was beyond crazy in fact! It was pure madness! I think it means something, so I came to talk to you about it!" his father gasped, grabbing a chair and sitting down to catch his breath.

"Your dreams are always about some crazy conspiracy which never comes true, yet you worry yourself to death over it every time," Tom replied after a brief pause, clearly not in the mood for his father's ramblings.

"But really, son, this one's different! I swear, I felt something really strange while it was happening! It felt like someone was trying to tell me something..."

"Give him a chance, Tom. I want to hear what he has to say," Callum requested, nudging Laura in an attempt to get her to agree with him. Regardless of what everyone thought, they were going to hear the whole story anyway.

"See, in this dream, I was lying in the spring just outside the village... and everything was dark, beasts were roaming everywhere. And I could hear the lamentation of the light spirit, Ordona... it kept repeating something. It was telling me that Power, Courage and Wisdom will come together in these dark times... and they are to reap the penalty of evil actions... it doesn't sound like it makes any sense, but it felt real, oh so real. I could have sworn I was actually lying there until I woke up. I haven't stopped thinking about it all morning." Mr. Baptie took constant deep breaths in his explanation of the dream, his eyes fluttering around the room and eventually settling on the three teenagers. A variety of expressions crossed their faces – Tom looked baffled, Callum appeared fairly surprised, and Laura's eyes had finally opened wide out of surprise.

"Power, Courage and Wisdom... aren't those the parts that makes up the Triforce?" Callum asked. Tom's dad simply shook his head.

"I've no idea, Callum, we weren't taught that stuff in my day. You can believe what you want about it, because I haven't got a clue..."

"Wait, wait. What has this got to do with us?" Tom interrupted.

"Can't you stop thinking about yourself for once?" Laura implored, Tom's self-centredness starting to irritate her, as usual. "The world doesn't revolve around you. Maybe your dad just wanted to share it with us? It does sound genuinely interesting and thought-provoking to me."

"I just don't see why it matters so much," he replied bluntly.

Callum turned to face Tom and let out a sigh. "Regardless or not of whether it's got anything to do with us, it's not an ordinary dream to have. I usually go to the spring around evening time anyway. I want to see if anything from your dream means anything, Mr. Baptie."


	2. Descent Into Darkness

Later on that day, around evening time, the sun was setting and the village had become quiet, few citizens staying out to venture into the night.

"Do you think the Light Spirit will really come out to us?" Laura asked Callum, doubt spread across her face.

"I don't know, from what I know it only appears to those destined to be heroes of the land... or those otherwise blessed by the Gods," Callum explained, sporting a similar expression to Laura.

"So we'd have to be special to see it, basically?"

"That's the jist of it."

"Yeah... everyone's heard the tale of Hyrule's creation. And all the kids would pretend they were Zelda, Link and Ganondorf from centuries ago, when the Triforce parts were last active. Remember how Tom always used to try to get me to role-play as Zelda?"

"Yeah, I remember very well. Partly because you shoved him into the river every time he suggested it."

"I certainly hope he remembers that too, or else it's going to happen again," she threatened as she saw Tom hurrying along the path that they had just come from. "Hello, Mr. I'm-a-very-good-boy-and-I'm-never-late-to-anything. What took you so long?"

"Jesus Christ guys, it's those bloody goats... not listening to me lately at all, it's hard work you know. Hard work! Something you guys wouldn't understand," Tom explained, heaving for breath.

"It's harder work having to put up with you when you act like this," Laura retorted, turning her back to him and walking alongside Callum instead. "I'm going to talk to Callum instead, because he's not a massive show off. How do you like that?"

"Really, stop being so overdramatic... I barely said anything to annoy you," Tom replied angrily.

"She was joking, you should know that by now... sarcasm's her main language," Callum intervened, aware of the fact that Tom always takes things way too seriously.

"Wait... isn't this the bridge to Faron Woods? Look what you two have done now! You were so busy talking to each other that we've walked straight past the spring," Tom complained.

"Forgive us for being sociable," the two said, almost in unison. As they turned around, they saw Tom had already made his way back to the gate in front of the spring. He was stood right there staring towards the waterfall, making no movements whatsoever.

"Aww... captivated by the beauty, are we?" Laura mocked him, running over towards him. But as soon as she reached him and looked directly where he was staring, she immediately let out a chilling scream, which caused Callum to run over as fast as he could – who froze at the sight of what was in the spring, before suddenly diving behind a large bush for protection.

A single shadow beast stood at the edge of the spring, facing Tom directly. He and Laura remained stuck to the spot, not daring to move a muscle. After a brief staring contest with the foreign monster, Callum attempted to make a dash, heading straight towards the gate as quickly as he could, but his efforts were in vain – the shadow beast spotted his movement an instantly released a powerful wave of dark energy, which vaporised him and Tom instantly. Laura evaded the attack, but she wasn't free from the beast – it generated an energy ball in its hand and hurled it directly at the teenage girl, striking her below her throat. She fell to the ground in an instant, lying motionless and barely conscious. But she was awake enough to sense that all light was fading, and not just because she'd been attacked – the light was being drained from the spring, but she could not do anything about it, for she was paralyzed head to toe, both physically and from fear... 


	3. Fangs of Courage

When she awoke, Laura felt as if her sight had been impaired – the area glowed a faint orange, and black fragments appeared to drift to the sky... as if a sinister dusk had descended on the spring. But what her attention was really turned to was a burning sensation on the back of her left hand. As she sat up quickly and grabbed her wrist, she discovered a golden mark on it, unmistakably the mark of the triforce – the bottom right triangle glowing much brighter than the other two. The brightness of the mark became gradually more intense, until multiple beams of light simultaneously shot out of her body, disappearing into the air. What was left was a cloud of blackness blanketing the girl, which slowly absorbed into her body, leaving behind what could only be described as a canine beast.

"Laura... the one... who takes on the form of a beast... rise now..."

Laura's eyes opened wide at the sound of her name, a sound that always made her jump in fright. She tried to stand up, but she found her body completely morphed from how she remembered it – she tried to let out a gasp, but it instead came out as a dog-like whimper. She looked around desperately, trying to see her friends, but nothing could be seen... other than an oddly bright light near the waterfall of the spring. She stood up – on all fours, which felt very uncomfortable at first – in order to see what had presented itself in front of her.

"The wolf form that you have taken... it is a sign of great destinies come to reality... My friend... I am weak and cannot assist you much. But I can tell you this much...

I am the light spirit, Ordona... though I may not look spectacular, I am not at all in a healthy state as of present... My light... it was taken away from me by a shadow beast. Twilight now blankets Hyrule like an omnipresent reminder of our fate..."

Laura wanted to ask so many questions, but her words never made it out of her mouth – she was lost as to how to communicate in her new body. All the sounds she could make were howls and barks, which made her feel slightly awkward. She didn't want the light spirit to think she'd gone mad.

"Within you... you have... the blessings of the Gods... which have come to life in these dark times... if you see anyone else, they will have passed into spirit form... but not you. The power of the Triforce of Courage, which has been gifted to you transformed you into a beast instead... Laura, take a look at yourself..."

Laura knew that she had definitely become an animal of sorts, because rather than thinking "But there's no mirror around here!", her instincts told her to look in the reflection of the water instead. Though the ripples distorted her image slightly, she could make out that she was a mostly black-furred wolf, with a blood red underside and white-tipped tail and feet (she looked as if she were wearing socks). Golden spots also trailed down her left leg.

"You can see... the embodiment... of the Triforce... as golden markings on your fur... Brave warrior... I have little strength remaining... but I must urge you... to find the other light spirits. They know of the whereabouts of your friends... who no doubt play an important role in this destiny... and they know more of the fate of Hyrule than I do... Go forth, my friend, for the Twilight stops for no one..."

She wanted to ask so many questions, but she simply couldn't. From what she could remember, Mayor Bo had once spoken of a spirit's spring in Faron Woods... and Ordona had made it clear that she must visit the light spirits. She was desperate to find her friends. She may have shunned them all the time in the past, but only now did she realise how lost she felt without them... she only hoped they were safe, wherever they were.


	4. Locks and Chains

Winds whistled and the moon shone bright, creating a lonely atmosphere over the haunted wasteland that was the Gerudo Desert. In the emptiness of the twilight, the heat escaped the area, leaving a cold and dry air behind. Though the usually lifeless desert exhibited no signs of life, it is here that the only link between the twilight world and the light world existed.

Arbiter's Grounds, an ancient colosseum which housed this very link, stood at the far north end of this desert, along with an underground prison that was used to hold deadly criminals while they awaited either execution, or exile to the world of twilight. The prison had long since been abandoned, but the souls of these mentally tortured criminals still roamed, serving as a permanent reminder to Hyrule's bloodstained past.

Outside the prison, a high-security fortress remained untouched, previously used to contain any inmates who managed to escape the prison. Here was where Callum had been taken, the memory of being vaporised and shattered into dark matter still lingering in his mind.

"You, who take the form of a menacing dragon... Rise!"

"He's not moved a limb ever since we locked him up, do you really think commanding him to wake up is going to have any effect?"

"We can't just ignore the fact that a huge dragon was lying in the middle of the desert! This thing is no ordinary twilit beast, I can sense it. Look at the golden imprint on its shoulder blade... that's not a good sign, I'm telling you."

"Since when were you an expert on dragon anatomy? Besides, it looks harmless enough, it can't possibly-"

The voice was interrupted by the sound of something metallic clashing against the steel prison bars. The two creatures stopped their bickering and turned their attention to the dragon's cell, to find that it was most certainly awake – its tail, possessing a sharp metallic blade at the tip, had sliced through the bars in an attempt to make an escape from the claustrophobic prison cell. Another slash of its tail cleared the exit for it, allowing it to escape the cell's tiny confinement and spread its wings over the fortress.

Callum gazed down at his new form – he resembled a serpentine dragon, covered in black scales with a slightly lighter, plated underside, as well as large wings that, combined with his streamlined shape, allowed him to fly at surprisingly fast speeds. He stretched his tail out, looking down at the lethal sharp blade that allowed him to carve his way out of imprisonment. However, he had little time to admire his mysterious transformation – there were creatures on the ground below, shooting from all angles. Fire arrows pierced his skin, causing a scorching pain and prompting him to fly swiftly away from the scene, but his escape was not as successful as he'd hoped – a ground-dwelling creature, supposedly a mage of some sort, cast a beam of light energy at him, crippling his wings with electric pulses and bringing him crashing to the ground. His tail managed to slice the offender in the process, however his comrades were rushing over in mere seconds, tying chains around his draconic feet and being very careful to avoid his pointed claws. Using some sort of black magic from the remaining mages, they lifted him carefully over the fortress, and into the abandoned prison below...

Callum's head hurt. Not only was it hard to breathe with a respiratory system he wasn't at all used to, but the power of the magic from earlier had given him some sort of full-body paralysis. He hated not being able to move, and he felt like he wanted to thrash and break out into the open air, but he couldn't. The only sounds he could make were deep grunts, and the only thing he could move were his eyes as he helplessly watched these creatures take him wherever they pleased.

After a while, he felt himself being placed on the ground, and the grip of the magic being released from his limbs. He immediately attempted to lash out, rage bottled up inside him and ready to burst like an overly shaken bottle of champagne. However, when he tried to do this, he could move no more than a few feet from his current position. He soon found out why – a horribly strong force pulled on his tail, neck and limbs, and he found himself unable to breathe properly. Upon the realisation that he could still rotate his neck, he noticed several chains had been wrapped around his body, along with a few loose ones draped over him, supposedly for extra security (but certainly not comfort). He was being hoisted up, and slowly rotated so that he was facing forward rather than face down on the ground. Eventually, the movement stopped, and he was facing straight out onto a desert vista. He presumed there to be no other life forms in the vicinity, but he turned out to be wrong – upon closer inspection, there were roughly eight of the creatures from before on the ground, but they were difficult to spot from the height he was at. It was then that a thin black line suddenly descended from the sky, and materialised into a strange person... if it were a person at all. They were heavily covered in robes and had a metal mask on, with a tongue-resembling shape rather than a gap for its mouth.

"So. They found you then..." the voice whispered, deep and soft. "You're stronger than I presumed you to be. I didn't expect you to slice one of my trusty mages in half, or kill another half a dozen with your claws. But I doubt you remember that, seeing as you were practically unconscious until you got here."

Callum tried to muster some words to confront this mysterious man. It came out as a soft roar, but apparently the man understood him.

"What? No, we're not going to kill you. You're bad news. We don't want you around here, kid. You're just going to interfere with us. Nothing personal. Actually, it is personal. But we have things to tend to that are more important than you right now. Don't even think about trying to escape, though – there's mage knights waiting down there to cripple you if you try. If you want to try though, you're welcome to. Just expect a much worse fate, because I'll be sure to be hearing about it."

Callum wasn't so concerned about everything he'd just said. He just wanted to know who he was, and why he was important enough to hurl so many threats at him. Surprisingly, and somewhat worryingly, the man picked up his thoughts.

"Me? I am Zant. Do not oppose your king. I can dispose of you however I may please. Maybe you'd like to share your nasty thoughts out aloud next time, hm? That way I won't have to get you in trouble for being secretive. Stay here, don't move a muscle until I come back. Have fun awaiting your fate. It's a shame your journey was cut short..."

With that, Zant disappeared into shards of blackness, as Callum had when he was attacked at the spring. Callum wanted to think so many nasty thoughts. But Zant's words echoed in his head. A mind-reading, manipulative man, apparently egotistical enough to call himself the king was not someone he wanted to mess with right now. Whatever was going on, he wanted to find out. His mind could not rest until he found out why he'd been imprisoned and chained to a giant stone slab. Callum was somewhat of a mythology enthusiast, and he knew that this stone slab was often used by the ancient sages, when they wanted to cast a teleport to the twilight realm. Could they really be planning to use this for the same purpose... on him? 


	5. Pain

"I didn't think it'd come to this..."

"Zant, my lord, if you wish we can dispose of the creature for you."

"No, no, I can't have that. It would be unjust, even for me. Where have you kept him?"

"This way, my lord."

Zant, the Usurper King, having finished his duties in Arbiter's Grounds, found himself now in the underground waterways of Hyrule Castle. A rather dramatic change in scenery, indeed, but he came here by his own will. Rather than having to deal with a minor inconvenience, such as a meddlesome dragon in the desert, this was of far much more importance. As he trailed through the waterway, lost spirits and the twilight versions of sewer rats commonly drifted past, a constant reminder of what he had done to Hyrule. Though the thought didn't bother him so much at the moment, even an evil overlord couldn't help but feel a little remorse for the not-so-lucky ones.

After a fair bit of guidance (the sewers weren't the most suitable place for a king to be seen, so he didn't visit there often) Zant was shown through a small corridor, at the other side of which were a dozen or so prison cells, designed to hold suspicious individuals while they awaited judgement by the twilight king's representatives. The king, however, had decided this case was special enough for he himself to deal with it.

Upon arriving at the cells, all of them were empty and the doors ajar, save for one in the far corner which housed a single black tiger, distinctive white stripes completing its appearance. It laid motionless on the ground, but upon the sound of Zant approaching, its eyelids slowly lifted, revealing a pair of blazing red eyes. Zant could clearly tell that this creature was who he thought it was – it immediately stood up and looked all over its body with confusion, before running around the cell restlessly, attempting to escape the cuff on its back leg which was connected to the ground with a chain.

"I believe your name is Thomas. No need to reply, I can read your thoughts," Zant said boldly, not bothering to wait for the creature to stop moving. At the sound of his voice, however, it did, and immediately began growling out of instinct. "Don't be awkward, please. I don't have to let you out if I don't want to, but I am, out of the kindness of my heart."

The tiger stopped growling at that, but simply resumed clawing and chewing at the metal chain, apparently in a desperate hurry to be freed. In an attempt to aid this, Zant grabbed on to the metal lock and dissolved it within his hand, allowing the door to swing open. He then flicked his fingers at the chain, firing a small ball of energy towards it, swiftly breaking off most of it but leaving the cuff firmly attached to its leg.

"I'm sure you're very aware you were detached from your friends not long ago, and I'm sure you're eager to reunite with them again. Am I correct?" Before Tom had a chance to answer, Zant continued "Thought so. Listen, I'm going to make sure you do. But only if you help me out. Is that understood? It better be, or you're not going to be leaving here for a while."

Tom simply nodded in agreement, not quite sure what to do in this situation. He'd transformed into a feline beast, been locked up and was now being confronted by a control freak with a fish helmet. If he hadn't been threatened several times, he'd have jumped up and bitten him already, seeing as he had an odd craving for power in his new form. Whatever this guy had in store for him, if it was going to get him out of this place and back with Laura and Callum, he was willing to take it.

"I am Zant. Most call me the Usurper King of Twilight. Hopefully that's made you realise I have significant authority over you." If Tom could reply, he would have blatantly said it didn't. "I have something I need you to do, that I'm too busy to do for myself. You see, you and your two friends... if I were to not interfere with you, you would eventually come to defeat me and overthrow my power. It's simply beyond me how a trio of beasts like you three could do that to me, but apparently it's possible. You're wondering why I'm telling you this, aren't you? That power is something I cannot lose. My thirst for power is why I came to you instead of the other two."

For a moment, Tom liked what he was saying – the idea of being more powerful than his friends made him feel somewhat victorious, after feeling like a third wheel for so many years. But he still had a bad feeling about this guy. The King of Twilight? Thirst for power? It didn't sound like a good combination, but he had no choice but to listen.

"I'll fill you in on a little information. Laura is currently travelling towards the forest guarded by the light spirit Faron. She seeks knowledge, knowledge on your whereabouts. When the Triforce pieces unite, they create an unstoppable force that can be used to the owner's desire. That is why I cannot let her find either of you. Callum lies in the depths of the Gerudo Desert, but it is only a matter of time before Laura finds him. That is why I need you, Thomas... you possess the Triforce of Power. It is what caused you to transform into a red-eyed beast. Think of it... with endless power at your disposal, the world's under your command. You can achieve anything you want, and I can take you there... You and me together, we'd be feared by every citizen of Hyrule... no, the world! Do you have trust in me?"

After hearing that, Tom's opinion of Zant had almost completely reversed in the matter of a couple of minutes. He was utterly disgusted by his words; he wanted him to betray his friends and use him as a method of gaining world domination? He wasn't having any of it. He let out a fearsome roar at Zant, and dashed underneath him, disappearing around the nearest corner in frantic search of an exit. He didn't get very far before Zant caught up, however, and was brought to a standstill when he was grabbed at the neck, the twilight king's grip slowly tightening, suffocating him.

"Don't think you can get away that easily. Don't you remember? I said I'd help you reunite with your friends. It'll be a happy ending for all of us. Not only will you get your friends back, but you can force them to do whatever you want. You want that, don't you?"

Zant's voice teased Tom. He stared forward, refusing to show any discomfort, despite the fact he was seriously struggling to breathe.

"Ohh, I can tell you're tempted... you should give into temptation. And if you don't, I have ways of forcing you to... You don't want to be brainwashed, do you? I'm sure you want to retain all your happy memories. You don't want your friends to be devastated by the fact you don't remember them, do you? Your memory's the only thing you'll always have, but I can take it away in an instant... if you don't comply."

Whether or not he agreed with Zant's proposition, he barely had the ability to think anymore, as hypoxia settled into his body and his mind wandered, trying desperately to stay conscious. It was then that Zant's grip finally loosened, allowing Tom to collapse to the ground and regain his breath.

"Hehe... I may not be able to control your thoughts, but I can sure distort them. Unless you want that to happen again, I suggest you try co-operating this time. It's a simple choice – you either do what I say, or I wipe your memory clean so you won't have any reason to object. So, do you accept my offer, or not?"

Tom nodded slowly, shutting his eyes tight and cringing, which was apparently still possible as a tiger.

"Good beast..." Zant teased, drifting a comfortable distance from Tom again. "I don't expect you to know exactly what you're doing, of course. That's why you're going to have a little bit of a helper at your disposal. Isn't that right, Midna?"

A small shadow emerged from underneath Zant, which materialized into Midna – looking somewhat reluctant. She looked away from both Zant and Tom, busying herself by staring at the water.

"She'll help you whenever you need it. She knows more than she should. That was ultimately her downfall..." Zant explained, not helping Midna's emotional state. Midna slowly drifted over to Tom and stood behind Tom silently, who turned around briefly to shoot a concerned glare at her.

"Midna... you get him out of here. Go to Faron Woods, don't let Laura get any further than she already has done. Clear?" Zant ordered. Midna nodded and closed her eyes, raising her arms and transforming Tom and herself into twilight debris, warping them out of the castle dungeons.

Isolated in the waterway, save for a few lost Hylian spirits, Zant thought to himself "What have I done?". He'd just turned a perfectly innocent boy against his lifelong friends. But perhaps it was for the better – the boy had the potential to achieve great things. With a little misguidance, he could easily use that to his personal advantage. And he was more than willing to let Tom enjoy the fruits of his labour – providing it worked.

"Power is not everything... I need courage and wisdom to put it to any use..." he whispered to himself, as he walked off into the depths of the sewers. 


	6. Shining Dark

Faron Woods, a place once known well to Laura and the villagers of Ordona, lived on through the twilight, with the rest of Hyrule... all the Hylian spirits roamed, eternally unaware of what was going on, and the twilit beasts thrived in the light-devoid land. In the midst of this silent chaos, Laura wandered through the plant life, in search of the spirit's spring.

"It can't possibly be that far from here," she thought to herself, her paws growing tired of constantly stepping on thorns and needle grass. It was then that she heard the voice echoing through the forest.

But the spring was nowhere to be found – the woods were a pretty big place, and her new form allowed her to explore more places than before, so it was a little less closed-off than she remembered it, but she still found nothing. Everything was a little difficult to recognise under the influence of twilight, but she was sure she'd still be able to make out where the voice she heard earlier was coming from. It sounded again, but sounded less and less like a voice as it echoed through the woods. It was more like a cry for help, a plea for assistance. As much as her heart told her she had to find Faron's spring, her body's urge to rest could not wait any longer. She laid downon a softer patch of grass next to a large wooden shack to catch her breath, and rest her aching limbs. She couldn't help closing her eyes and laying her head on her paws, enjoying the silence and tranquillity of the twilight...

Laura was expecting to find it had turned dark when she woke up, but it occurred to her after a few seconds that this was eternal twilight... she couldn't expect to see night again anytime soon. A slight sadness, yet an eternal beauty lingered in the air... and she couldn't help but take it in.

As she stood up to go searching for the spring again, she came face-to-face with an animal of very similar size to her, unmistakably another wolf, but this one had a major difference to her – its fur glowed a bright gold and its red eyes contrasted its coat like rubies. Its appearance out of nowhere caused her to take a few steps backwards at first, but she could tell that it meant well. She'd thought for a moment that she'd taken its territory or something, but it looked docile enough.

"...Who are you? What do you want?" Laura interrogated the golden wolf, suspicious of its motives. It stood up and paced towards her, until she had no further room to move backwards. It leaned directly into her face, gazing into her golden eyes with its own.

"Your eyes... they're the ones of a hero..." it commented, taking a step back and sitting down comfortably. "You may call me the Hero's Shade. I exist in this land for one reason... to assist heroes in Hyrule when their time arrives. I was sent to find you by Faron... it was his dying request."

Laura recoiled in shock at the Hero's Shade's words, her eyes protuberant and a paw raised to her mouth, out of human habit. "Dying request? How can Faron die? He's a light spirit! They're ordered to protect this land by the Golden Goddesses! They can't die!" she blurted out, a look of severe anxiety on her face.

"Calm yourself, it's not at all as bad as you may think," the golden wolf urged her, reaching out a paw to hold hers. "The light spirits may be dead to this world, this existence. But in another world, they still live a half-existence..."

"Another world?" Laura cried out. "They're as good as dead, then!"

"No, no, they're just... imprisoned, shall we say," the Hero's Shade responded, looking up to the sky and the drifting twilight clouds in it. "I'm sure you've figured by now that the light spirits are greatly endangered... my knowledge thus far is that Ordona is the only remaining light spirit who has not been torn away and banished from Hyrule. Although technically speaking, Ordona Province is not part of Hyrule proper. It may take some time for the Twilight King to get around to dealing with it..."

Laura looked up again, her eyes filled with sadness. "So... you're saying we have time to save them?"

"If we hurry, yes. The task is a little... laborious. We have to get back to Ordon Village. Do you know Jaggle?" the wolf asked.

"Yeah... that shield craftsman? His house is right by the waterwheel," Laura responded.

"That's good. We need to get into his house, but seeing as you're still new to being a wolf... you may need my help. I can't go inside with you, but I can help you to get in there. Come on, we have no time to lose. Let's get out of this place, who knows what kind of twilit monsters lurk here," the Hero's Shade concluded, standing up and running towards the bridge in a graceful, canine fashion.

"Hey, wait up!" Laura yelled in return, running after the golden beast in a much more awkward and clumsy way. 


	7. Ignorance

In the midst of the lingering twilight, the mirror chamber remained completely still. The twili in the chamber stood like statues with soulless eyes, surrounding the black dragon still chained to the portal stone, hanging from the pillars by rusted chains.

Callum remained still, hanging limply from the stone, any slight movement rattling the chains and catching the attention of the twili guards. His head hanged down, staring pitifully at the dull ground below. What looked to be a large, circular mirror was facing towards him on a small platform, surrounded by four twili. He couldn't help but notice that the glare from the mirror projected perfectly onto the stone he was bound to.

The strain of the chains was beginning to hurt Callum's scaly skin, and every time he breathed, they rubbed against his chest, gradually becoming more painful. A slight outcry could get him killed, but if he was forceful enough, perhaps he could loosen the chains a little so he could free his arms and legs. If he could just do that, escaping would become a lot easier...

With one heavy pull, he yanked his arm, attempting to remove it from the tangle of chains wrapped around it. Although he managed to move it inward a little, the chains remained firmly in place. What was more surprising is the fact that none of the twili below noticed anything. They must have a pretty dumb sense of hearing. With enough luck, he should be able to free himself and escape before anyone can take any action...

After another few forceful attempts at moving his limbs, he had loosened the chains somewhat around his ankles and wrists (which he presumed he still had in his new form). But as he struggled with the rest of his body, a chain suddenly snapped loose and hit his shoulder blade, causing a painful roar to emit from his mouth as he writhed in agony, shaking the supporting chains and causing the stone to swing a little. Naturally, this did catch the attention of the Twili below – but instead of throwing the spear-like objects they held at him, like he expected, they instead turned to the mirror he had observed earlier.

Callum froze and forgot about his pain while he watched several other twili walk slowly over to the mirror, two of them angling it so that the glare from the twilight sky reflected directly into his eyes, causing him to shut his eyes in reflex for a few seconds. When he opened them again, a stranger light was shining outwards from the mirror, passing through his body and lighting up the stone he was tied to. His heart was beating in his throat. Despite the fact that he'd never experienced this situation before, it gave him an odd feeling of dread and resent, like a memory. The twili below were holding up their arms to the mirror, and the ones that weren't stood right next to it were looking directly up at him. It was then that he felt a gravitational pull, seemingly into the stone. It was as if he was falling backwards and had no way to recover, the sucking force dragging every fibre in his body into the stone.

In all his anger and fear, Callum opened his eyes wide as he felt the last of his soul being sucked into the stone, focusing his sight directly on the mirror projecting the light. He let out an ear-splitting roar, and a fraction of a second later, the sucking force suddenly stopped as the mirror was knocked clean out of its stand and halfway across the chamber, knocking out a twili guard in the process. A huge rush of adrenaline coursed through Callum's body as all of the chains bounding him to the stone shattered simultaneously, releasing him from it. He was unable to spread his wings fast enough, however, and he soon plummeted to the ground, the giant stone landing mere feet away from him and burying itself halfway into the sand. He lay there motionless, unable to move, but he could see – see all the twili staring at him, their faces remaining emotionless but their eyes filled with anger and hatred.

"STOP!" a voice echoed. Before they had a chance to raise their spears, a blast of black energy exploded out of nowhere, knocking all the Twili guards clean over, leaving them unable to move. The blast was seemingly aimed directly at them, so Callum was left unaffected. After the energy had cleared off, the shadow of an imp was revealed to be floating where it had originated. The shadow slowly drained off it, revealing none other than the cursed Midna.

"Wow. Someone's changed a lot," Midna remarked, taking a look at Callum and holding her arm to her chin. "Listen, we don't have any time for questions. Not that you look in a fit state to talk right now. Zant could arrive at any moment. I'm not supposed to be here, and if I leave you here, he won't let you live another second. Let's get out of here!"

Midna proceeded to open a twilight portal next to the two of them, transforming Callum and herself into pure twilight and vanishing into the portal.

When the two materialized again, Callum was still unable to keep himself upright, and fell straight from his airborne position to the ground. He was fully conscious, but unable to make any sort of movement. Midna hovered around him, inspecting every part of him to find any possible source of paralysis.

"Listen, I know you can hear me. And you probably want to ask a million questions right now. But, what you did back there? That was some pretty powerful magic. Only the type that those chosen by the gods would possess. And that means Zant is after you. Godly power is what he thirsts for..." she explained, starting to scare Callum a little. "But if I can keep you hidden, you won't have anything to worry about. He can sense when that kind of magic is being used. That's the power of the twilight king... there's a chance of him finding you no matter what you're doing. The power we use feeds back into the twilight, and Zant absorbs that twilight, making him all-knowing..."

Midna took a quick look around. "From the looks of things, we're in Faron Woods. A pretty remote part of it, too, so you should be safe here. As long as you don't move, Zant can't sense anything. Not that you can move! He'll be a little busy investigating the mess you made in the desert, anyway. There's someone I need to find for you. You'll be glad to see her. Stay right here, okay? If your paralysis wears off, just... don't move. Trust me, you'll regret it later if you do." With that, Midna clicked her fingers and vanished into the twilight, rejoining the black fragments that rise through the sky of twilight.

With every passing moment, Callum grew more and more impatient. Having a fully functioning mind trapped inside a paralysed body was horribly irritating. Not to mention the lifeless nature of the twilight meant that he had nobody to talk to (though he still wasn't sure if he could even communicate in his new form). He was able to move his eyes, though, so now was a chance for him to actually take in his environment. Twilight seemed to hold a serene beauty – orange-tinted skies, dotted with black and indigo clouds, fragments of twilight rising to the sky, the colour slightly drained from everything... and anything at a considerable distance being reduced to a black silhouette. Shadow kargarocs circled in the sky, confirming that at least some other life form was enjoying this landscape.

He was snapped back to reality when he heard fast footsteps behind him, passing straight by him, rustling the fallen leaves as they went. Whoever it was seemed to be in a rush. Seeing as Callum could not turn around to check who or what it was, he had to resort to other ways of catching its attention. He attempted to let out a quiet grunt, but ended up underestimating his own strength and letting out a loud roar instead.

Now, he was expecting whatever was behind him to run for its life, but to his surprise it stopped its movements and began moving closer to him. When it came into Callum's line of sight, he made it out to be a wolf of sorts – he couldn't move his head to get a proper look. The wolf analyzed Callum's draconian body from several angles, before lowering its head to the ground to take a look at his eyes. A sudden realisation of sorts washed over Callum at this point – the wolf's eyes looked remarkably similar to someone he knew. He wanted to speak to it, and he wanted to ask who it was, but his condition at the time simply didn't allow him to.

Callum had had enough. He tried to spread his wings, and to his surprise, he had finally regained his own mobility. This action startled the wolf, however, and sent it running in the opposite direction whence it came. Perplexed by its sudden change in behaviour, Callum turned his head to check where it was headed, apparently able to turn his neck 180 degrees in his new form. He could see its silhouette, vanishing slowly into a cluster of trees behind him. Having observed earlier that there is a large gap in the canopy, he seized his chance to take flight and rise above the forest, able to observe the movement of the canine beast below. He followed its exact movement, taking every same turn, but it was not long before he lost sight of the wolf, and he was forced to change direction and backtrack.

However hard he tried, however, he simply could not find the clearing he was in before. It was as if the trees had magically grown over the gap in the few minutes he hadn't been looking. Looking over the expansive woods, something on the horizon caught his attention. Nestled between two black mountains stood the unmistakable structure of Hyrule Castle, living on in the age of Twilight. Surrounded by a mysterious cyan glow, Callum felt the need to investigate. He wanted answers, and he was willing to do almost anything to get them. Seeing as he had nowhere else to go and he had no hope of returning to where Midna left him, he flew quickly towards it, with total disregard of what Midna had warned him about earlier... 


	8. Unfriendly Fire

Tom was lost as to what to do. He was at the mercy of Zant if he did not tear his relationship with his friends to shreds.

Before he left, Zant told him that if he were able to defeat the other wielders of the triforce, their powers would escape and rest within him instead. And then, he and Zant would supposedly use their combined power of light and darkness to bring the world to its knees. There was only one slight loophole in Zant's plan – Tom would have to seriously injure Callum and Laura if he wanted to get his hands (or rather, paws) on those triforce pieces. And he wasn't exactly willing to do that.

He supposedly had Midna around to help him, but either she'd left him for more important business, or he couldn't figure out how to summon her. Either way, social interaction was the last thing on Tom's mind at the moment. Having been transported just outside Castle Town, he gazed at the expansive Hyrule Field, every inch of its life having been sucked out by twilight. While there was a certain beauty within it, he couldn't help but feel uneasy in such an alien environment.

However hopeless the situation may have been, Tom couldn't help but wonder about his new powers. As a human, he had always possessed a destructive nature, often getting impulses to throw and break things, much to the annoyance of the residents of Ordon Village. He spotted a weak-looking tree not far away, and strolled towards it, observing it fully. Without really thinking about what he was doing, he sunk his teeth into the trunk, clenching his jaw with all the strength as he could muster. Within a matter of seconds, the tree snapped clean in two, and the upper section which had been ripped off burst into flames, fell to the ground and was fully incinerated within a minute. The remains dissolved into squares of twilight, lifting off the ground and rising slowly into the sky.

Tom realised he had probably put a little too much power into that one – the bite he delivered could have probably murdered a couple of elephants. He was fascinated by this newfound strength, however – he spent the next ten minutes running frantically through the field, scanning his surroundings for anything that looked insignificant enough to destroy. Grass, trees and rocks were his main victims. Everything he attacked suffered the same fate – bursting into flames, followed by fading into the twilight. It seemed that the larger the object, the more effort it requires to ignite. With a little practice, he could move further and further up the destructive scale, being able to wipe out anything in his path.

He had no idea what to use this power for, however – a desire for power wasn't particularly close to his heart, but it felt like a privilege to have it, and he didn't want to put it to waste. He supposedly had a mission to pursue – he had been ordered to Zant to stop Callum and Laura from reuniting. Unable to think of how to do this himself due to his lack of imagination, Zant was forced to propose an idea instead. He said that Tom was to find at least one of them, and mislead them, while Zant disposes of the other. He was reassured that disposal does not mean death, but he wasn't sure he trusted Zant after his performance from earlier. Still, he had no choice – his memory was at stake.

Laura was supposedly headed towards Faron Woods. Thanks to Callum's incessant ramblings about the geography of Hyrule back in Ordon, he had a good idea of where that was. Just as he was about to head off, he felt a gigantic blast of wind against his face, which could only have been caused by something passing by. Surely enough, he looked up to see a large black dragon passing over the field – wings fully spread, tail outstretched. It seemed to be heading towards Hyrule Castle, so Tom turned to observe its movements for a while. As it approached the castle, it began to circle around it, seemingly scanning the land below. While Tom couldn't work out what it was up to, he couldn't help but feel as if he knew this dragon somehow. Before he had a chance to think about this, however, he noticed an invisible barrier had suddenly appeared around the castle, and every time the black dragon attempted to get close, it was forced away from it by this barrier. A couple seconds later, Zant appeared out of nowhere next to Tom's side, almost giving him a heart attack from the shock.

"It's that blasted dragon from the desert! Get him!" Zant yelled, holding out an arm to the dragon and using his power to bring it plummeting to the ground in front of them. He then lunged at it mercilessly, lifting it up and slamming it back on the ground repeatedly, much to Tom's horror.

"Come on, what are you waiting for! ATTACK IT!" the Twilight King urged, forcing Tom to come close and take a swipe at its leg. The dragon roared in pain and immediately reacted by sweeping its tail across the ground, knocking Tom clean off his feet. It then attempted to slice Zant with its tail blade, but to no avail, as the Twili was able to teleport fast enough to avoid the blow.

After a few more minutes of watching this one-sided battle, Tom decided he needed to intervene. He felt like he had a duty to protect this dragon, as evil as Zant was making it out to be. He charged at Zant and knocked him over, allowing the large animal to take flight again. What Tom didn't expect, however, was for it to extend its claws and fire a powerful blast of flames directly at Zant, enveloping him in flames and barely missing Tom. The fire spread out along the ground, setting the grass alight and releasing a rising cloud of embers and ash from the ground. By the time the flames had burned out, the black dragon had found an opportunity to escape, and could now be seen flying towards Faron Woods in the distance – exactly where Tom needed to go. He was about to head after it, but he stopped when he heard the sound of groaning behind him.

Zant lay face down in the remains of the burnt patch of grass, which was still noticeably hot. He slowly struggled to lift himself up slightly, muttering "Tom... why..."

Tom cocked his head to one side, deciding to throw in a witty remark. "I decided to stop you from getting carried away. You can misuse power, you know."

Zant stood up properly, leaning slightly from fatigue and pain. "You're one to talk! Who was the one running around like a maniac and burning trees to the ground?"

Tom, loyal to his personality, took the insult very critically. "I have a right to use my power! You told me yourself! If anything you should be praising my use of power."

"Hrrgh... if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been torched by that dragon... and you would be suffocating again right now... this is the power of the King of Twilight, and you WILL respect it!" Zant's words made Tom shiver a little, but he was reluctant to show fear.

"If you want me to help you with your little plan, you'll have to let me do it how I want. I'm not letting a power-crazed fool tell me how to use my own power! Feels bad to be threatened, doesn't it?"

"AARGH!" Zant screamed, vanishing with an anger-induced explosion of dark energy. Tom couldn't help but snicker to himself, and feeling like he'd won somehow.

With that whole fight scene over with, Tom was able to resume his previous activity of following the dragon... which had now flown out of sight. Either way, he could remember roughly which way it had gone. He ran south, towards Faron Woods, in search of Laura – whether it was so he could happily reunite with her or brutally destroy her, he wasn't sure. 


	9. Thievery and Vandalism

Upon arriving back at Ordon Village, Laura had to stop to catch her breath. Unsurprisingly, the Hero's Shade had already arrived.

"Hey, a question. Can I just call you Shadie?" she enquired. "It'll get annoying having to say your entire name every time."

"Fine, just don't say it in front of anybody else," the golden wolf reluctantly agreed. "As you can see... Zant didn't take long to steal the light from this province, either. That's not a good sign. You can see Jaggle's house, right?"

"Yeah, right over there. Though he almost always bolts the door, he's gotten his stuff stolen before. He's very... overprotective of what he makes," Laura explained.

"It's not a shield we're after," Shadie replied. "If you can shift aside some of the logs in their fire, you'll find a sort of pendant underneath them. It was crafted by the golden goddesses and gifted to me, sometime after I... never mind. Regardless, I need you to find that for me. Only then can we return to the Ordon Spring."

"But what-"

"No time for questions," Shadie interrupted, pushing Laura forcefully out into the open of the village.

Everything seemed awfully quiet to Laura, compared to the usual atmosphere of Ordon. It'd like everybody had gone to sleep, but it somehow felt worse than that. It was like the village had been plunged into an eternal slumber, and Laura was the only one awake in the forsaken settlement.

Every house she walked past seemed lifeless, and the trees looked dead, despite being very much alive. While Laura was taking in the ambience of the village (or lack thereof), she had already subconsciously walked over to Jaggle and Pergie's house. It was a wonder she hadn't walked into anything. She walked rather confidently up to the door, until she realised she couldn't actually open doors anymore. Not willing to be defeated by a rectangular piece of wood, she took a step back and charged into it. Surprisingly, the door wasn't actually locked, and it was knocked clean off its hinges, flying halfway across the room. Jaggle and Pergie were inside, sat on opposite ends of a large table which took up most of the floor space in their small home. They were both clearly startled by the flying door, but they seemingly had no reaction to a wolf being stood in the doorway – they simply resumed staring miserably at the table, hands clasped together.

The fact they hadn't noticed Laura was baffling to her. She didn't expect them to actually recognise who she was, but she at least thought they'd run for their lives at the sight of a wolf in their house. She strolled into the house, circling around the table. Still no response. She even tugged lightly at Jaggle's clothes, which she thought would get a response out of him, but all he did shuffle slightly.

"Either they're blind or something's seriously wrong here," Laura thought to herself. The couple seemed just about as lifeless as the furniture, as if they'd lost all sense of desire and had resigned themselves to sitting still for all eternity. "Seems like twilight had an even worse effect on these guys than it did on me..." she thought, feeling a little sorry for them.

"Don't bother. They can't see you," a voice suddenly sounded, barely an inch away from Laura's ear. The voice was so unexpected in the quietness of the moment that she almost jumped through the roof out of shock.

"Good lord, don't DO that, Shadie..." Laura stuttered, having barely regained her breath.

"Sorry, but you seemed kind of confused," Shadie replied, seemingly unaffected by how badly he'd just scared Laura.

"Confused? That's a gentle way of putting it," Laura snapped back at him.

"You know these two, don't you?"

"You could say that. They're the mother and father of Talo and Malo... speaking of which, where are they...?"

"They've probably been taken away by the shadow beasts by now."

"Been WHAT?"

"Shadow beasts hate children. They're a sign that life continues in Hyrule. That's why they take them."

"Oh lord, this couldn't get any worse..." Laura wept, laying down on the warm wooden floor, burying her head in her paws. "First these two ignore me, then it turns out their children are probably dead..."

"Worry not. They simply don't have the ability to reply," Shadie calmly responded. "Not only can they not see you, but the twilight is slowly eating away at their minds... if you're not a natural denizen of the twilight, it consumes your mind and soul. You turn into a lifeless zombie, going about your daily deeds like a mindless drone..."

"That's pretty depressing..." Laura resumed looking at the floor, feeling its wooden texture with her paws. "Hey, hold on a second! You said this happens to people who don't belong in the twilight! How come it didn't happen to me?"

"...You can be awfully slow sometimes, both literally and metaphorically," Shadie responded. "I don't know the exact details, but you somehow possess the power of the gods. It wasn't supposed to belong to you, nor should it have left its rightful owner, but somehow it happened."

"Oh, thanks! Nice to know it's just a mishap that I've not turned into a zombie like these two," Laura angrily retorted.

"I'm only telling you what I know. I might be wrong. Anyway, we don't have time to be questioning the decisions of the gods. Let's get that pendant."

Laura sighed and stood up again, strolling over to the fireplace, which had luckily burned out. She picked up the logs with her teeth, tossing them to the side one by one. Surely enough, a small crystal was lying underneath the firewood, attached to a silver chain. It was an opaque blue, and its shape resembled a shuriken.

"Think you can get that thing around your neck?" Shadie questioned her.

"Would you believe me if I told you it already is?"

"Yes. That's what it's supposed to do. If you're worthy of harnessing its power, it'll accept you as its bearer. Evidently, it has done. We need to get back to that spring. Come along."

Before Laura had a chance to ask any questions, Shadie dashed out of the door in a golden blur, forcing Laura to stop staring at the pendant and to sprint after him, leaving Jaggle and Pergie alone in their house once again, for them to slowly suffer and succumb to the force of the twilight...


End file.
